AUTHOR=Li Mengtian , Yang Liyang , Zhai Haoyu , Qiao Liping , Wang Zhaobo , An Xuedong , Wang Jia 

TITLE=A new perspective on protecting the blood-retinal barrier against injury in diabetic retinopathy: mitophagy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2025.1617797

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2025.1617797

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=The blood-retinal barrier (BRB) comprises the inner blood-retinal barrier (iBRB) and the outer blood-retinal barrier (oBRB). The integrity of the BRB is essential to maintaining stability of the retinal microenvironment. Mitophagy plays a crucial role in maintaining organellar integrity by regulating mitochondrial quality and quantity. High glucose-induced mitophagy dysfunction contributes to diabetic retinopathy (DR) by damaging the BRB. This review presents mitophagy mechanisms under physiological conditions and examines changes across different cell types under DR-related pathological conditions that damage the BRB. It also summarizes drugs and targets that regulate mitophagy to stabilize the BRB and alleviate DR, offering new therapeutic insights.